This 5.5 hour pelagic trip will explore the bird-rich Nine Mile Bank from the comfortable 85-foot live-aboard Grande to find seabirds and view migrating California Gray Whales as they make their way to the warm lagoons of Baja California to breed and give birth. This majestic, once-endangered species is now making a comeback.

EXPECTED SPECIES: What we see depends on what mother ocean gives us, but we expect 2-3 species of shearwaters and two species of auklets. We often see Grey and Humpback Whales on these trips plus three or four species of dolphins (Bottlenose, Common, Pacific White-sided and Risso's) and numerous seabirds including fulmars, shearwaters, auklets, murrelets, and jaegers. This is also a good time of year to find three species of loons, three species of cormorants, five to six species of gulls.

Learn more about what species we will probably see and what species might be seen.

RARITIES: An adult Blue-footed Booby circled Grande 4 times on this same trip on March 5, 2009 and on 4 Mar 2010 a Black-footed Albatross came to the boat while we were at the Nine Mile Bank on this very trip. The 2009 Festival's Manx Shearwaters that flew by as Grande pulled out of San Diego harbor were simply spectacular!

On our way out of the harbor we'll motor slowly by the San Diego live bait tanks for close-ups of several dozen lounging sea lions, several hundred Brandt's cormorants, several species of gulls, and dozens of egrets and herons. Then we'll check Ballast Point where Black Oystercatchers and a Long-tailed Duck hung out the entire winter of 2009-2010 and were seen from Grande on this trip at the 2010 Bird Festival.

Upon our return to San Diego harbor the captain will put Grande right up next to the Zuniga Jetty to look for rocky shore birds such as Black and American Oystercatchers, Wandering Tattler, Black Turnstone and Surfbird.

AGE:This trip is appropriate for children 9 years and older.

Manx Shearwater at the 2009 San Diego Bird Festival

Short-tailed Shearwater are seen in San Diego waters every winter (c) Todd McGrath 2008

CANCELLATION POLICY: Trips on this website are sponsored by different organizations using different boats departing from different landings and harbors. As such, policies vary from trip to trip. Prior to registering, please familiarize yourself with your trip's policies regarding reservations, cancellations, refunds and substitutions as well as reviewing driving directions, check-in times, procedures and equipment allowed on the boats.

2009 Bird Festival Pelagic Video

Best viewed full screen by clicking the icon near the lower right hand corner of the video (beneath the "You" in YouTube).

PARKING: There is a large parking at Point Loma Sportfishing for $6 a day. Enter the lot using the Emerson & Scott entrance and you'll be right at the landing 100 feet inside the parking gate so you can drop off your gear the seek permanent parking. Free parking is available on the residential streets around the harbor, but street parking is very limited in summer months. If the landing parking lot is full, you'll be directed to a lighted off-site self-serve pre-pay parking lot about a block away that has always had space (bring $6 per day in folding money for the lockbox).

GEAR UNLOADING: You may pull into the landing parking lot, unload your gear directly in front of Point Loma Sportfishing and then park in the lot or seek on-street parking. You're not charged if you're in the parking lot for under 30 minutes.

START YOUR DAY STRESS-FREE: We recmmend that you arrive at the landing an hour prior to scheduled departure to allow plenty of time to find the landing, unload or transport gear, obtain a boarding pass at the Point Loma Sportfishing Landing ticket window, sign the manifest, use the landing's restroom, get a cup of coffee, visi with friends and board Grande 30 minutes before scheduled departure. All trips depart on-time without waiting for late-comers. Boarding begins 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure. More tips and hints on our trip preparation page.